At Wedding Photography Select, we don't just want to show you the best images from the best wedding photographers around the world. We want to tell you a little story behind them as well. The idea, the execution, the result. As this section grows, we want to give you an in depth description of each of the shots taken by some of the very best wedding photographers. We hope it proves to be inspiring and insightful.

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John Hope

I'm a Leeds wedding photographer but I travel all over the UK and internationally too. I've had a passion for the arts: music, design, painting etc. all my life but it wasn't until I first picked up an SLR camera a few years back that I discovered my perfect creative outlet. And I just love shooting weddings! They're full of such powerful and defining moments as two people's lives join together and change forever. I aim is to capture the action as it unfolds, unobtrusively and in a creative documentary way: mum kissing her daughter on the head before she walks into church, Dad choking up half way through his speech, that quiet, proud look on Grandma's face… creating timeless photos to treasure. I love these moments and get such a buzz from the documentary side of shooting weddings.

I would say I'm known equally well for portraits and I aim to give every couple something special. I like get some laughs going for sure to get those lovely, natural looking shots, fake smiles just don't cut it. I'm always on the lookout for dramatic lighting and striking backdrops to create something a little more artistic and epic that will demand some wall space!

This was my kind of wedding. Big time. You know what? I like to party and I've said it before and I'll say it again,the essence of every wedding should be one almighty celebration. It's the biggest day of your life so make it so. Surround yourselves with the people that mean the most to you, grin from ear to ear from start to finish and squeeze every drop out of that day that you've invested so many hours planning. Details are great and cool and we all like them but much more important at a wedding is people, love, exuberant celebrations and good times… And this wedding encapsulated everything I've just said to a tee.

The celebrations were held at the fantastic Talton Lodge near Stratford-upon-Avon with a wonderfully personal outdoor humanist ceremony. Well, the ceremony was almost all under his direction. The fact is, Alex's grandad, Alex the 1st, is a vicar and the reading he was asked to give evolved into an impromptu and frankly hilarious sermon. He actually ended up being cut short in his prime for fears over timings going awry! Following that the first of three bands led the guests to the adjacent field where they were greeted by some amazingly decorated tee pees, 3 awesome bands and a Victorian style fairground. There's a blog post of their day here: http://www.johnhopephotography.com/talton-lodge-wedding-photography/

This photo was from the portraits we did during the drinks reception. The ceremony had taken place in the shade of a huge tree and with the sun out I took the couple back to that spot to make use of the shade and pleasing backdrop. This sort of shade allows you to expose for the subject and draw attention to them by darkening off the background. It's a light that's reasonably contrasty but gives no shadows from light coming from above. The light hits the subjects face on. Although the couple aren't making eye contact, they have a connection through holding hands and the effect of the arm across the face (combined with it being out of focus through a shallow depth of field being chosen) draws the focus dramatically to Nicola's stunning eyes which are the star of the photo.

Although I'd consider this very much a ‘Nicola' shot I know Alex likes it too, not least as several people have commented that he looks like Robert Downey Jnr in it!

Only difficulty about this shot was that I'm not especially tall and they are. I knew what I wanted to do but I think I had to find a milk crate to stand on to achieve it! Shot with a Canon 5D MkIII / Sigma 50 Art f2.8 / 1/250 ISO-100, evaluative metering, shooting manual. I used my own BW preset based on VSCO Tri-XX in post to get a nice looking image.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I've actually attempted a similar idea before in the past and with Nicola's eyes I knew we could make a great photo. The couple love it!